Remember the poster of the kitten hanging off a branch that hung in some bedrooms in the 1970's? "Right when I learned the answers, they changed the questions." That's the story of my life. I thought I would write it down.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Who's The Song About?

Last night Zirpu and I went to see Miz Jinkins sing. It's the first time she's sung in public since before the baby came and since we were invited, we went to support her return to the rock 'n' roll lifestyle (though Zirpu pointed out that it's really more like the folkie lifestyle). The last song she sang was about a time in her life when she was "a shadow of herself" and was resistant to falling in love. In the chorus she tells Love to go away, she "can't play with you." I found myself wondering if the song was about the period during which she was falling in love with her husband, whom I've known much longer than I've known Miz Jinkins.

I've written just one song, though I wrote a lot of poetry, some of it not half-bad, in writing classes in college. The Killer Lady and I were at the Cabin before Cabinstock in 1996 sitting on the rock looking over Lake Creek. I don't remember if we were talking or just reclining in the sun quietly, but I must have gotten teary about Phil not being there with us (this was just four years after he'd died, and that pain still freshens when I'm at the Cabin without him). The Killer Lady went inside and brought us both whiskey and waters in coffee mugs. I don't drink whiskey but somehow it fit the occasion. I sipped, and this came out as a song about people I knew. Later Kid Paully added the music notations.

Whiskey In The Afternoon

Drinkin' whiskey in the afternoonSittin' on a rock overlooking the riverDrinkin' whiskey in the afternoonWatchin' clouds, thinkin' 'bout old lovers

Time moves differently in ColoradoAnd the all seem to be here at onceThere's people I haven't seen beforeMaybe they'll be lovers in a few years more

I'm sittin' here thinkin' 'bout a younger meAnd all the things I did right and wrongTogether the right length of time andThe times I left early or stayed too long

Drinkin' whiskey in the afternoonSittin' on a rock overlooking the riverDrinkin' whiskey in the afternoonWatchin' clouds, thinkin' 'bout old lovers

The river rushes them somewhereProb'ly down to the Colorado RiverCarrying them on to other lives and loversColumbines and the aspens wave goodbye

But you know they didn't need to hurryNow I'm out on this rock all aloneI'm drinkin' whiskey in the afternoonWatchin' clouds, thinkin' 'bout old lovers

Drinkin' whiskey in the afternoonSittin' on a rock overlooking the riverDrinkin' whiskey in the afternoonWatchin' clouds, thinkin' 'bout old lovers

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About Me

A close friend of mine and her old friends call themselves the YaYas, after the book “Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood.” I'm a relative newcomer to this crowd, as I met Princess Words of Thunder in 1996, but some years ago she demanded that I adopt a YaYa name. I chose Princess Always Learning, because I always, always am.
I resolved that I would write every day in 2007. UPDATE for 2008: I will write three times a week. I'm storing it all here.